How to Make Chinese Egg Noodles From Scratch

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A fun and easy recipe for homemade Chinese Egg Noodles that can be made by hand or with a pasta machine. Perfectly chewy and springy, these noodles will hold up well in your favorite soup or stir-fry sauce without turning mushy.

Homemade Chinese Egg Noodles From Scratch

Kids these days are busier than they’ve every been. From the minute my kids wake up til the time I tuck them into bed, I feel like I’m just ushering them from one place or activity to another. And when they’re home, it’s so easy to set them up with TV or iPad.

So I try to get then into the kitchen and find recipes that we can all make together. I love making noodles from scratch with the kids because we get to create something tangible (and edible!), it teaches them that not everything needs to be bought from the store, it taps into their heritage, and I get to spend quality time with them.

Andy they love noodle-making because it’s so tactile (they get to squish, knead, crack eggs, crank the pasta machine, stomp on dough with their feet) and they feel so proud of themselves afterwards.

For us, it’s important that a noodle recipe is fastand fun. After school, activities, and homework, there’s limited time before dinner, bath and bed witching hour. The kids have really enjoyed making these Chinese egg noodles from scratch because I introduced a new “kneading” technique for them: “Why roll the dough when you can beat it?”

What are Chinese Egg Noodles?

Chinese egg noodles are made from wheat flour and egg. These noodles are added to soups (like wonton noodle soup) and also used in many stir-fry dishes like Mie Goreng (recipe coming soon).

You will make these in the exact same way as my ramen noodle recipe but with the addition of egg and salt.

Now, you don’t have to use an alkaline agent, but without it, the noodles could turn out mushy and will fall apart once you add it to your soup broth or sauce. Who want’s mushy noodles? Not I.

I also highly recommend using a pasta machine for this dough. You can certainly knead by hand and I did so the first time I made these Chinese egg noodles.

While the initial hand-made noodling experience was fun, it was also time consuming and difficult for the kids to manage on their own. Now, we let our pasta machine do all the work and the final results are great every time AND we can even manage it on a school night.

Measuring cup or kitchen scale. I prefer a kitchen scale (I have this OXO one) because it makes for more consistent measuring as one cup of flour can range anywhere from 100 grams to 300 grams depending on how lightly or tightly packed your flour is.)

Step 1 — Mix flour and salt together.

In a large bowl, add the flour and salt together and mix a couple times with a fork or chopstick.

Step 2 — Make alkaline solution.

If using lye water: Crack the eggs into a small bowl and add the lye water (aka kansui) to the eggs.

If using *baked* baking soda: Dissolve the baked baking soda in 1 tablespoon of water and mix (make sure there are no lumpy bits) and then add the mixture to the eggs.

Adding *baked* baking soda to water

Whisk eggs a few times with a fork or chopstick to thoroughly mix the eggs and kansui/baking soda.

Mixing the eggs with the alkaline water

Step 3 — Add alkaline egg mixture to the flour and squish into a ball.

Pour the egg mixture into the bowl of flour and mix with a fork or chopstick.

The flour will become a crumbly texture and that is what you want for now. If you put the dough to your nose, you will be able to detect the distinctive smell of alkaline dough.

Mixing flour and eggs

Use your hands to squish the flour crumbs together into a ball. The dough texture will be softer than my ramen dough recipe due to the addition of the eggs.

If the flour doesn’t completely form a ball after a bit of squeezing, then a little water, but only a tablespoon at a time, until you get one cohesive ball.

This is what you are aiming for – a dry and crumbly looking dough with barely any crumbs left in the mixing bowl:

Same as in my ramen noodle recipe, you want to keep the dough on the dry side. If it is too soft and wet then the dough will be hard to roll out and it will be difficult to cut into individual strands because they will stick together.

Knead the dough for a minute (just squish it around inside the mixing bowl) and then wrap it in plastic (or place it in a bowl covered with a damp towel) so that it doesn’t dry out.

Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Chinese Egg Noodle Dough

Step 5 — After resting, knead dough for 3-5 minutes.

Take the dough out of the plastic wrap (do not toss the plastic wrap away as you’ll need it again) and knead it for about 3-5 minutes.

This is not a difficult dough to knead like ramen dough but little helpers might have trouble doing it themselves. In that case, you can hand your child a rolling pin and use it to beat the dough on all sides for those two minutes. You just hit the dough with the rolling pin, turn the dough over, and repeat. I got this idea from Angie over at Sea Salt with Food who doesn’t knead her dough at all.

According to my kids, beating the dough is much more fun than kneading. Use a large-diameter rolling pin, preferably one with a long handle that they can hold on to. But anything will do as long as you don’t hurt yourself.

The kids had so much fun with this part that they couldn’t stop laughing and giggling. Rolling pin dough-beating was a novelty to them and they took turns doing it while grooving along to music. We are dough-beating and beat-bopping to my son’s favorite song at the moment: “Once I Was 7 years Old” by Ben Shuller.

By the end of the song, the result was just like as if we had kneaded by hand – the dough had become nice and smooth. See for yourself:

Left: Dough when it was first mixed; Right: Dough after 30 minutes of rest and a bit of kneading

Step 6 — Rest dough for another 30 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic (or place it in a bowl covered with a damp towel) and rest it for 30 minutes at room temperature.

If you won’t be using the dough immediately, stick it in the fridge and take it out 30 minutes before you need it so that it returns to room temperature.

Step 7 — Roll the dough flat with a pasta machine (or by hand).

Take the dough out of the plastic wrap, give it a few quick kneads. Divide your dough in half and return the unused half to it’s plastic wrap or towel-covered bowl.

Flatten the other half of your dough as much as possible by hand (or whack with the rolling pin again) and start feeding it through the pasta machine.

Spread a sprinkle of flour or corn starch on both sides of the dough

Starting with the widest roller setting, feed the dough through 3-4 times. Then adjust the rollers to the next setting and feed dough through 2 times per setting until desired thinness. We liked the dough thickness of level 6 (~1.2 mm).

Our Marcato pasta machine

If rolling by hand, be sure to sprinkle lots of flour on the dough and the rolling pin so that the dough doesn’t stick.

Step 8 — Cut dough into long strips of noodles with the pasta machine (or by hand).

Finally we are ready to cut the dough into strands! Our Marcato pasta machine came with two size options – a thick fettucine size and a thin spaghettini size. We used the spaghettini cutter to make thin Chinese egg noodles. (For thicker noodles, which my dad prefers, we tried the fettucine cutter but it was too wide so we just used a large knife to cut the dough into the width he likes.)

First, cut the dough in half if it is too long to work with.

Next, lightly dust the dough with flour or corn starch and then pass it through the cutters.

A post shared by Sandy (@gingerandscotch) on Mar 18, 2018 at 1:13am PDT

Repeat with the other half of the dough.

If cutting by hand, fold the dough in layers either like a tri-fold letter or into an S-shape. Cut into strands with a large knife to desired thickness. Remember that the noodles will expand slightly when cooked.

The first time I made these Chinese egg noodles from scratch, I tried rolling and cutting the dough by hand but the dough wasn’t very elastic so it kept springing back into a smaller shape. I persevered and was finally able to roll the dough thin enough to our liking. But I definitely prefer flattening the dough with the pasta machine.

Cutting the noodle dough with the spaghettini-sized cutter

After the dough is cut into strips, sprinkle more flour or corn starch over the noodles before jiggling the shaking them open into long beautiful strands.

Step 9 — Simmer noodles in boiling water.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Do not add salt. Cook the noodles for 2 to 3 minutes depending on the thickness of your strands. Test cook a few strands before throwing in the whole batch. It is better to undercook the noodles slightly than to overcook them because they will continue to soften as they absorb the liquid in the final soup or sauce.

Drain, rinse with cool water so they don’t stick. Serve with your favorite soup or stir-fry sauce.

Voila! An easy, fast and fun recipe for homemade Chinese egg noodles from scratch. Easy enough that even my 8-year old can make it by himself and fun enough that he’ll want to make it again and again with his sister (and me!).

Be sure to tag us on Instagram (@gingerandscotch) and Twitter (@gingerandscotch) and show us your noodle-making in action.

Happy Noodling!
-Sandy

Homemade Chinese Egg Noodles From Scratch

Course:
Main Course

Cuisine:
Chinese

Prep Time:1hour15minutes

Cook Time:5minutes

Total Time:1hour20minutes

Servings:4people

Calories:249kcal

Author:Ginger and Scotch

A fun and easy recipe for homemade Chinese Egg Noodles from scratch that can be made by hand or with a pasta machine. Perfectly chewy and springy, these noodles will hold up well in your favorite soup or stir-fry sauce without turning mushy.

Ingredients

Instructions

In a large bowl, add the flour and salt together and mix a couple times with a fork or chopstick.

Make alkaline solution.

If using kansui: Crack the eggs into a small bowl and add the lye water (aka kansui) to the eggs.

If using *baked* baking soda: Dissolve the baked baking soda in 1 tablespoon of water and mix (make sure there are no lumpy bits) and then add the mixture to the eggs.

Whisk eggs a few times with a fork or chopstick to thoroughly mix the eggs and kansui/baking soda.

Add alkaline egg mixture to the flour and squish into a ball.

Pour the eggs into the bowl of flour and mix with a fork or chopstick.

The flour will become a crumbly texture and that is what you want for now.

Use your hands to squish the flour crumbs together into a ball.

If the flour doesn’t completely form a ball after a bit of squeezing, then add more water, but only a tablespoon at a time, until you get one cohesive ball.

You are aiming for – a dry and crumbly looking dough with barely any crumbs left in the mixing bowl.

Knead dough for 1 minute and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Knead the dough for a minute and then wrap it in plastic (or place it in a bowl covered with a damp towel) so that it doesn’t dry out.

Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Beat the dough for 3 to 5 minutes.

Take the dough out of the plastic wrap (do not toss the plastic wrap away as you’ll need it again) and knead it for about 3-5 minutes.

This is not a difficult dough to knead like ramen dough but little helpers might have trouble doing it themselves. In that case, you can hand your child a rolling pin and use it to beat the dough on all sides for those two minutes.

Use a large-diameter rolling pin, preferably one with a long handle that they can hold on to. But anything will do as long as you don’t hurt yourself.

Rest dough for another 30 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic (or place it in a bowl covered with a damp towel) and rest it for 30 minutes at room temperature.

If you won’t be using the dough immediately, stick it in the fridge and take it out 30 minutes before you need it so that it returns to room temperature.

Roll the dough flat with a pasta machine (or by hand).

Take the dough out of the plastic wrap, give it a few quick kneads. Divide your dough in half and return the unused half to it’s plastic wrap or towel-covered bowl.

Flatten the other half of your dough as much as possible by hand (or whack with the rolling pin again) and start feeding it through the pasta machine.

Starting with the widest roller setting, feed the dough through 3-4 times. Then adjust the rollers to the next setting and feed dough through 2 times per setting until desired thinness. We liked the dough thickness of level 6 (~1.2 mm).

If rolling by hand, be sure to sprinkle lots of flour on the dough and the rolling pin so that the dough doesn’t stick.

Cut dough into long strips of noodles with the pasta machine (or by hand).

Finally we are ready to cut the dough into strands! Our Marcato pasta machine came with two size options – a thick fettucine size and a thin spaghettini size. We used the spaghettini cutter to make thin Chinese egg noodles. (For thicker noodles, which my dad prefers, we tried the fettucine cutter but it was too wide so we just used a large knife to cut the dough into the width he likes.)

First, cut the dough in half if it is too long to work with.

Next, lightly dust the dough with flour or corn starch and then pass it through the cutters.

Repeat with the other half of the dough.

If cutting by hand, fold the dough in layers either like a tri-fold letter or into an S-shape. Cut into strands with a large knife to desired thickness. Remember that the noodles will expand slightly when cooked.

After the dough is cut into strips, sprinkle more flour or corn starch over the noodles before jiggling the shaking them open into long beautiful strands.

Simmer noodles in boiling water.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Do not add salt. Cook the noodles for 2 to 3 minutes depending on thickness of your strands.

Test cook a few strands before throwing in the whole batch. It is better to undercook the noodles slightly than to overcook them because they will continue to soften as they absorb the liquid in the final soup or sauce.

Hi Sandy! I’m glad I found your recipe. I tried to make wonton noodles with the Philups Pasta Maker but the noodle texture is not as store bought yet. I used 2 g of naked baking soda for 500g of flour. I don’t know howc to adapt your recipe to use with the Philips machine.

Thank you for your great instructions and recipe. I have a few questions for you
1. I have tried it and my noodles come out not chewy but it hard and elasticity. How do I fix that?
2. What the reason to leave to dough rest for 30 minutes?
3. What makes noodles different if you have dry dough vs. not dry dough?
4. How long should I leave noodles outside before store in the fridge?

1. Maybe the dough was too dry or maybe the noodles needed more cooking time in simmering water? Keep practicing!

2. Dough needs to rest so that it can fully hydrate or it can turn out hard.

3. Wet dough will make it difficult for you to knead and cut into strands – the strands will stick together and the dough will stick to your rolling pin or pasta cutter. Dough that is too dry will be too hard to knead and will thus affect the texture of the finished noodle. You want your dough to be on the dryer side but not so much that you can’t knead it with the machine. Refer to my photos again to see how much water to add so that barely any crumbs are left in the mixing bowl.

4. Are you referring to the dough or the cooked noodles? For dough, you can leave it outside for a few hours if you plan on using it within the day. But if you don’t pan on using it immediately, I have placed my dough in the fridge for up to 2 days and that has been fine. Sometimes I made the dough and then I have to run out of the house to pick up my kids from school or run errands, or whatever and I stick t in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature before you knead it. For leftover noodles (already cooked in boiling water), I let it cool down and then stick in the fridge for using later or freeze it in small ziplock bags. I only put 2-3 servings of noodles in each ziplock bag to make it easier for myself when I’m just making one or two bowls of soup.

My family loves Chinese Noodles, so I’m going to get them to help with this recipe! Our daughter has the pasta machine, so I’ll have to make sure she has the right attachments. I’m a pastry maker, pie crust in particular, and I didn’t realize that making noodles is a bit similar. Thanks for a great recipe!